brother and minister has given me from you. O may my God richly recompense you for your great affection! May he reward your prayers for me, by pouring tenfold blessings into your own bosoms! May he bless you with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus! At the command of God, as I believe, Ishall, in a few hours, embark for those regions where your little present may be of use to me, in guiding my way through the trackless desert. I pray that the word of God, which is your compass, may, through the Spirit, direct your path through the wilderness of this world, and bring you in safety to the better country above. I beg your prayers, and assure you of mine. Remember me some. times at your social meetings, and particularly at that which you hold on the Sabbath morning. Pray not only for my sinful soul, that I may be kept faithful unto death; but, especially, for the souls of the Heathen. Whether I live, or die, let Christ be magnified by the ingathering of multitudes to himself. I have many trials awaiting me, and so you; but that covenant of grace, in which we are interested, provides for the weakest, and secures our everlasting welfare. Farewell, dear brethren! May God long continue to you the invaluable labors of your beloved minister: and may you, with the blessing of God on his ministry, grow day by day in all spirituality and humility of mind, till God, in his mercy, shall call you each in his own time, to the eternal enjoyment of his glory." poor have The few days Mr. Martyn remained at Portsmouth were spent in conversing with his brethren on the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, in social supplication and thanksgiving. His prayer, on the day he expected finally to quit the shores of England, will not easily be forgotten by those who bowed their knees together with him to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: it ascended to the “lofty One," from the lowest depths of humiliation, and it breathed the most entire devotedness of body, soul, and spirit to his service. His whole demeanor, indeed, could not fail of tenderly affecting, as well as indelibly impressing their hearts and minds. One of those then present, who little thought that the task he now so inadequately attempts to execute would ever be assigned him, well remembers his own sensations on that most trying but triumphant occasion; and how completely every thought within him was absorbed in admiration of the astonishing grace bestowed on his friend, and in bitter regret at being for ever to be deprived of his society.-Nor let it be here surmised, that Mr. Martyn's sacrifices and sufferings have been magnified, from being contemplated through a medium, raised by the fond and ill-judging partiality of friendship. His situation as a chaplain to the East India Company, it is readily admitted, was an eligible, or, as it might be deemed, an enviable station. But this, so far as worldly prospects are concerned, would have been contemptible in his eyes when placed in competition with the poorest curacy in Cornwall. And it ought not to be forgotten, in our estimate of his privations, that, although he was not the only one of the many sailing with him from the happy land of their nativity, who clung to it with ardency of affection, and parted from it with the most lively sorrow, without disparaging their motives, those by which he was actuated were solely of a spiritual kind: they too, it must be remembered, were cheered with the hope of one day shedding -the tears of joy, where then they were pouring forth those of sadness-but no such distant gleam streaked Mr. Martyn's horizon. He went forth to preach the Gospel to the Heathen, and it was his fixed resolution to live and die amongst them. When he left England, he left it wholly for Christ's sake, and he left it for ever. On the 17th day of July, the Union East Indiaman, which was to convey Mr. Martyn to Calcutta, sailed from Portsmouth, in company with a large fleet under command of Captain Byng, and two days afterwards came to an anchor in the port of Falmouth. An extract of a letter written from this place to Mr. Simeon, feelingly depicts Mr. Martyn's sensations, when rising on the morning of the 17th he found that his voyage was really commenced:"It was a very painful moment to me when I awoke on the morning after you left us, and found the fleet actually sailing down the channel. Though it was what I had anxiously been looking forward to so long, yet the consideration of being parted for ever from my friends, almost overcame me. My feelings were those of a man who should suddenly be told, that every friend he had in the world was dead. It was only by prayer for them that I could be comforted; and this was indeed a refreshment to my soul, because by meeting them at the throne of grace, I seemed again to be in their society." The arrival of the fleet at Falmouth was an event wholly unforeseen by Mr. Martyn, who was somewhat agitated "at the singularity of the providence of God, in leading him once more into the bosom of all his friends." "May the Lord,” said he, "glorify himself in this and in every other dispensation!" -How trying this dispensation was to him, it will not require many quotations from his Journal to demonstrate. From these it will be evident, that delightful as it was to him once more to land upon the shores, where he had sported gaily in his infancy, and meditated divinely in maturer age, it would have been far happier for him had a storm in the night hurried him past his beloved Cornwall. But God, who doeth all things well, manifestly intended to strengthen his faith, by putting it to a severe exercise. July 29.-"I was much engaged at intervals in learning the hymn, 'The God of Abraham praise;' as often as I could use the language of it with any truth, my heart was a little at ease, "The God of Abraham praise, I all on earth forsake, Its wisdom, fame, and power; "There was something peculiarly solemn and affecting to me in this hymn, and particularly at this time. The truth of the sentiments I knew well enough. But, alas! I felt that the state of mind expressed in it was above mine at the time, and I felt loth to forsake all on earth. "Not being able to reach the ship, I slept at a little public-house on the road, where I lay down in the most acute mental misery; and rose, the next morning, disturbed and unrefreshed. The morning was beautifully serene, but on account of the tempest within, that very circumstance was disgusting to me. A dark and stormy day would have been more in unison with my feelings." "I went on board in extreme anguish, and found an opportunity in the sloop by which I passed to the ship, to cry, with brokenness of spirit, to the Lord. The words 'Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?' were brought to my mind with such foree, that I burst into a flood of tears: and felt much relieved in my soul, that God was thus compassionate, and the blessed Lord Jesus a merciful and compassionate |